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DES MOINES — After multiple states, including Minnesota, passed regulations around ticket-scalping bots, Iowa legislators are considering a similar bill.

The bill, discussed Thursday in the Iowa Senate Technology Subcommittee, would prohibit a person from creating or using a bot to purchase tickets or circumvent electronic cues or presale codes. Bots are automated software programs that perform repetitive tasks.

Similar legislation, dubbed "Taylor Swift bills," came up in state capitols across the country after fans experienced frustration when purchasing tickets for Swift’s Eras tour in 2023 and 2024, which saw massive demand for shows.,

When online ticket sales opened, some fans were kicked out of the online cue or ended up paying far above face value for tickets originally bought by bots. But incidents with bots aren’t exclusive to Swifties.

Senate File 49 stems from sponsor Sen. Jeff Reichman’s own experiences with difficulties getting tickets.

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Reichman, R-Montrose, said he and his family are big fans of music and sporting events, and they’ve seen how ticket prices have skyrocketed over the last few years.

He said he’d heard from a father who took his daughters to an Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball game in Des Moines, and the fees cost almost as much as the tickets did.

“It's just something that's so expensive, and there's just a lot of people who don't get to enjoy those things,” Reichman said. “You create an artificially high demand for these by monopolizing and taking all the tickets.”

Jefferson Fink, representing the Iowa Independent Venue Association, said bots hurt the ability of small venues to sell tickets to actual customers.

“We're really glad to see this bill come forward again, especially for our smaller venues here throughout the state because, let's face it, we have a limited area of maybe 200 to 300 folks max,” Fink said. “So if these bots get ahold of some of those hot tickets for some of these concert and events, the independent venues will be left with all these tickets not being able to be sold.”

The bill also would require a ticket seller to report known violations of the bill’s provisions within five days of noticing a bot buy and would require the attorney general to establish an electronic reporting system to submit reports on bots.

The attorney general may bring civil action for those using bots to get tickets, with a civil penalty of up to $10,000 upon conviction.

Members of the three person subcommittee unanimously moved the bill forward.

Comments: mmarchelhoff@qctimes.com